Bodhisattvacharyavatara
by Andreas Kretschmar | 233,817 words
The English translation of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara (“entering the conduct of the bodhisattvas”), a Sanskrit text with Tibetan commentary. This book explains the bodhisattva concept and gives guidance to the Buddhist practitioner following the Mahāyāna path towards the attainment of enlightenment. The text was written in Sanskrit by Shantideva ...
Text Section 66
Khenpo Kunpal here applies the second method of analysis that developed at Nālandā to the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra. As the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra is not the direct words of the Buddha [bka'] but a treatise [bstan bcos, skr. śāstra] on the Buddha's teachings, Khenpo Kunpal's commentary on it has to follow the 'five types of preliminary assessment' [rtsis 'go yan lag lnga] according to the Nālandā tradition.
When someone composed or taught a treatise at Nālandā on the words of the Buddha, his composition was subjected to five questions:
- Which author composed it (the treatise)?
- Upon which scriptures does it draw?
- Under which category is it classified?
- What is the brief meaning (of the treatise) from beginning to end?
- For whose benefit and for what purpose was it composed?